What is Family Chats and how do I use it?

Family Chats is for the people who actually share the watch. It's not a public feed and it's not the AI coach — it's a private back-and-forth with the caregivers you've already invited as guests.

Where it lives.

Open the right-hand menu and tap the Chats icon. The first time you do, Happyly creates your family thread automatically — everyone you've invited as a guest is already a member. From the thread list you can also tap + to start a new thread (a direct message with one caregiver, or a smaller group).

Family Chats vs. the coach chat.

These are different. The coach chat is your one-on-one with Happyly — it logs sleeps, answers questions, walks you through the Rhythm Guide. Family Chats is human-to-human only; the coach doesn't read or respond inside it. If you want to ask the coach something, use the coach chat — see chat-not-responding if that one's stuck.

Threads vs. flat history.

Each conversation is its own thread. Inside a thread, you can reply to a specific message to start a side-conversation without breaking the main flow — see chats-reactions-replies-attachments.

Who's here right now.

The top of the thread shows a small presence line — "Sarah is here" when your co-parent has the thread open, or a quiet "Quiet here. Drop a note…" when no-one else is. When someone's typing, you'll see "Sarah is responding…" below the messages.

Unread badges and the seen dot.

• The Chats icon on the right-hand menu and each thread row carry an unread count so you can see at a glance what's new since you last looked.
• A small dot appears next to the timestamp on your most recent message once any other thread member has loaded the thread. It's a quiet "someone's read past here" signal — not per-person, not aggressive. No "unread" framing.

Quick-reply chips.

Above the input you'll see a row of suggested phrases. They adapt to the current watch state — "I've got him for now" when you're off the watch, "All quiet — sleeping" when you're on, and so on. Tap a chip to stage it in the input; edit before sending.

About this message.

If you have two or more children, the + button next to the input opens a small menu to tag the message about a specific child. The tag shows on the message so a returning co-parent knows who the note is about.

Plus tier.

Family Chats is part of the Plus tier. Free accounts see an upgrade card instead.

Notifications.

New messages and hand-off events trigger a push notification by default — you can mute per family, hide previews, or set quiet hours. See manage-notifications for the full set of controls.